Stronger through injury, Sky Brown now set on closing gender gap further and winning gold in two sports at LA28
For most athletes, the Olympic Games are a battle for medals. For 16-year-old Sky Brown they are also a battle against injuries.
“I don't know what's up with that!” the British skateboarder told Olympics.com about her injury-plagued months leading up to the Olympic Games Paris 2024. "The injury timing is not the best timing. But I do feel like I'm just going to get stronger from this."
Brown had to overcome two major injuries in the months before her second Olympic appearance. In April, she tore her medial cruciate ligament (MCL) and was sidelined for two months. A few days before the women’s park final in Paris, she dislocated her shoulder.
These injuries did not prevent Brown from winning a second Olympic bronze medal, however, or setting even more ambitious goals for the future. While the teen sensation narrowly missed becoming a double Olympian in skateboarding and surfing at Paris 2024, she intends to complete that mission at Los Angeles 2028.
And a bit more.
"I've had a crazy journey, life. And I'm so thankful for every moment," Brown said. "I'm just going to keep surfing and skating and for sure got my eye on LA, for two gold medals. I'm going to work on that for Team GB. I think it'll be really special to be a double Olympian."
The next Games will take place at home for Brown, who lives and trains part-time in California, USA. But while being familiar with the landscape and waves should give her an advantage, Brown knows she will have to bring a lot more tricks to the competition to earn a third Olympic medal.
"Even since Tokyo, it's grown so much," Brown, who will turn 20 years old a week before the 2028 Olympics, said about the progression of women's skateboarding. "It's on a whole different level but LA, gosh, I think it's going to be insane, especially for the girls. We're really pushing it. The gender gap, we're closing that up, and I'm really excited to be a part of this generation and really push the sport with all the girls."
Sky Brown: Turning injuries into an assertive motto
Pre-Olympic injuries have become an unfortunate tradition for Brown, dating back to her journey to Tokyo 2020 in 2021, where the teen athlete had a life-threatening, 15-metre fall from a vert ramp in May 2020. This fall resulted in a fractured skull, broken left wrist and hand, and lacerations to her lungs and stomach.
Brown made a recovery and went on to win a bronze medal in her sport's Olympic debut.
Four years later, in April, Brown got injured again, this time ahead of Paris 2024. She tore her medial cruciate ligament (MCL) while filming a video part and had to miss the first stage of the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) in Shanghai. When she returned for the final OQS in Budapest in June 2024, her knee was still "not 100 per cent" but that did not stop Brown from dropping into the bowl, a brace on the knee, and finishing the competition in second place with a formidable 91.93 points on the board to book her Olympic spot.
While Brown lamented not being able to “go very hard” and pull out all her tricks in the Hungarian capital, the worst seemed to be behind her. She was back on track to make a top performance in Paris.
But there were more obstacles to come. On 28 July, just over a week before the women’s park competition at Paris 2024, the British skater dislocated her shoulder.
On 6 August she dropped into the bowl, her shoulder strapped in, and claimed her second Olympic bronze medal.
"I wanted to put my tricks out that I was saving for Paris, but I am very happy," Brown said. "I was still in the process of an injury, and then getting the medal was definitely a really good feeling."
With so many injuries dotting her two Olympic cycles, it would be natural for Sky Brown to ask, “why me?”. The two-time Olympic medallist does not see it that way though.
"I think of it as part of my story. Every injury, I feel like I come back stronger, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's one of my mottos," Brown said. "I take the injury always and make it the best I can using the best way possible. When I had my knee injury, I trained every other part of my body to be as strong as possible for when I come back, and use it the best way possible."
Sky Brown's post-Games unwind: Hitting the dancefloor
Now that the 2024 Olympic Games are over, Brown is set to get surgery on her shoulder to reduce the likelihood of it being dislocated again.
Being as strong as possible is essential for the ambitious goal Brown has set for the next Olympic cycle. But before the hunt for double Olympic gold at LA28 begins in earnest, Brown intends to tick two other tasks off her packed to-do list – relax and dance.
"I have a lot of stuff I want to do on the bucket list," Japan-born Brown said. "I feel like everything is very unexpected for me. I'm so down to try anything so I'll do whatever. Whatever comes up, I'll give it a try and hopefully one of them is dancing."
The two-time Olympian won Dancing with the Stars: Juniors in the United States in 2018, then 10 years old, and has recently taken hip hop classes to mix up her training routine. Hip hop is one of her favourite dance styles together with contemporary and ballroom.
Could Brown's artistic pursuits extend beyond the dancefloor as well? Definitely, says the Paris 2024 medallist.
"Anything, I'm down for," Brown said. "I have a lot I want to do in life."